Patent Law, Fall 2017

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

This course covers the substantive U.S. law of patents including eligible
subject matter, utility, novelty and nonobviousness requirements, requirements
of the patent specification, scope of claims, and modern infringement law.

Generally Applicable Syllabus Information

Please read carefully my Generally
Applicable Syllabus Information. This document sets forth course policy
for attendance, preparation and participation, use of computers, examination
and grading, and other items. A complete understanding of this document
is necessary to take full meaning from the Class Schedule and Other Information
set forth immediately below.

Class Schedule and Other Information

Name:

Patent Law

Course # / Section #:

5332 / 19207

Place:

213 BLB

Time:

Monday & Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (2 class
sessions per week, 3 credit hours; 90 minutes per class session)
(3 credit hours is 2,100 minutes of class time at 50 minutes per credit hour across 14 semester weeks)
Class will meet 24 times for 2,160 minutes. For the first three weeks of the semester the class will only meet on Wednesday evenings.

Certain documents may be assigned from time to time from sources other
than the casebook. These documents will be provided via links in the
class assignment table below or in a separate page of class links. Paper
copies of these documents will typically not be provided in class, so
students should plan to print them or review them electronically.

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Other Resources:

This commercially available treatise is excellent and incorporates the changes in the patent law from the AIA:

The course grade will be based on an open-materials
final exam given at the time and date as scheduled by the Law Center.
My assessment of your in-class participation
performance will not be a component of your grade.

Brief Description of Coverage:

This class will meet in twice each
week. The coverage goal is approximately thirty to forty pages
per session. Assignments will be detailed in the table below as the semester
progresses.

Absences Limit:

Assuming two class meetings per week, five or less absences
constitutes attendance meeting the eighty percent requirement. More
than five absences means that the eighty percent requirement is not
met.
Attendance will be taken via a roll sheet passed out during each class
session.

"Pick your seat" seating chart date:

The second class session:
- Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Remote Presence:

Students will have five times during the semester where they can attend class remotely via the Zoom internet video conferencing software. I will mark you as "Remote" on the roll sheet for these days. Remote days do not count as an absence.
To do this, there are several requirements: (i) your computer must have a working video camera and quality audio capability, joining by audio-only will be treated as an absence (you may need an external mic or headset for sufficient audio quality); (ii) you must identify yourself with your class roll name in the Zoom videoconferencing software; (iii) you must present your face and upper body area professionally in the video stream; (iv) you must be able to fulfill your responsibilities if called on to discuss a case or course materials; and (v) you must manage the mute "button" when remote to keep a professional demeanor.
Lawyers increasingly work through internet video conferencing. No student is required to use this capability, but one reason to offer it is that it affords a chance to experience it before using it in a real job setting. The other reason I offer this is that it reduces absence-taking for reasons related to illness, life events, or travel difficulty in Houston.
Finally, when remote, hearing students speak in the class room may not be optimal.

Read this course web page and the assignments detailed
in the table below for the first day/week
of class.

Recording of Class Sessions

I will tape the class sessions using a recorder and post links to the tracks on the class web site
for the sole and limited educational purpose of allowing students to
stream the recorded sessions to review or to enable students who missed
a class to hear the class presentation. Any recordings created will
be deleted and destroyed shortly after the final exam for the class.
Since I call on students, there is a chance that your contributions
to class discussion, whether voluntary or while on call, may be included
in the recording. Your
continued registration in this class indicates your acquiescence to
any such incidental recording for the purposes described above unless,
if you have concerns about this, you come speak with me as soon as possible
but in no event later than the first day of the second week of class.

Course Coverage Table

The table linked below provides the detailed assignments for this course.
It also may provide links to materials for each class and other items related
to the course. In order to allow flexibility in the class, assignments beyond
those posted for the next week are subject to change; therefore, students
who may wish to read ahead are urged to contact the professor before doing
so. The rate of progress through the modules depends on the class dynamics.

Class presentation slides are provided as links below in association with
each module title. I will generally have the slides available about a week
before we start a new module. If students want hardcopy of the slides for
use during class, please download and print the linked slides file.

After each class session, the class date will become a hyperlink to the
audio for that class.

Case names are listed in the table below as assignments. Sometimes there
are several paragraphs of introduction before the case when the case is
the lead case in a new subheading in the book. These introductory paragraphs
are part of the assignment and should be read along with the case.

The call group assignment list will be posted here
for downloading as a .pdf file, with a password required to open the file.
That password will be given out in class.

In the table each casebook assignment is given a page range to go with
the assignment title. Unless the "Comment/Note" column indicates
otherwise, read the entire assignment, encompassed on the indicated pages,
including any notes or associated problems.

The Patent Document
Pages 54-60 give the '626 patent to Hall for a pizza box; however, the casebook version of the '626 patent is missing figure 2. Therefore, please read the patent from this link, which is from the PTO image database of patents.

In addition to studying the pizza box patent carefully, read as follows:
READ CLOSELY: Prosecution History parts
C, D and E
SKIM: Prosecution History parts
A, B and F
The Prosecution History of the pizza box patent is given in six .pdf files (parts A through F) at this link:http://law.case.edu/Faculty/Craig-Nard/Law-of-Patents/chap/1
The prosecution history timeline image to the right may be of help in reviewing the Prosecution History.